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Mandukya Upanishad – Verse 2:
Brahman is Verily OM

सर्वम् हि एतत् ब्रह्म अयम् आत्मा ब्रह्म सः अयम् आत्मा चतुष्पात् ॥२॥
sarvam hi etat brahma ayam ātmā brahma saḥ ayam ātmā catuṣpāt ||2||

All this is, indeed, Brahman. This Atman is Brahman. This same Atman has four quarters.

From OM to “I”

Verse 1 declared, “all that is here is OM” – manifestation of Intelligence. Then verse 2 declares, “all that is here is “I (atma)”.

How can both be true? Because the truth of OM (“all this”) and the truth of Ātmā (I, or self) — are one and the same reality (called Brahman). Since we've already looked at OM (all-knowledge) in verse 1 — now lets look at you, Atma.

Definition of words we've used so far, so there's no confusion:

• • Brahman: Reality looked at from standpoint of itself. 
  • OM: Reality looked at from standpoint of all-knowledge, or Intelligence (discussed in Verse 1). Although later, definition of “OM” will be expanded. 
  • Atma: Reality looked at from standpoint of the individual, you.

“All this is Brahman”

Why Ātmā Is Self-Evident

OM (the objective universe) only becomes evident when you apply a means of knowledge (pramana) to it: the five senses, logic, intuition, scripture. Without a pramāṇa directed at it, no object announces itself.

But “I” is different. It requires no proof, no instrument, no inference – because it’s the only principle that doesn’t announce itself for the first time – whether you apply Pramana onto it or not. It is known prior to all knowing.

For instance, you only came to know about “Intelligence” behind all forms, as seen in Verse 1, once we've applied a satya-mithya pramana onto it. Until then, all you saw were forms at the most surface level. But even then, you always knew that I am.

This means reality divides cleanly into two categories: the self-evident “I” (the non-interfering, non-negatable existing being) — and everything else that becomes evidenced to “I” (through a means of knowledge).

Everything that eventually becomes evident – every object, thought, feeling, state – can, through cognitive analysis, be negated as mithyā: dependent, not self-sustaining. But the self-evident being, in whose presence the negation process is going on, cannot be negated. If it could, then who would recognize his absence? The very attempt to deny or reject Atman, presupposes Atman.

Ātmā Has Four Quarters

This Atma has four quarters (pādas). Think of it as, Atma (or Brahman) can be understood completely through four views.

This does not mean Atma is built from four pieces, like a hand is built from 5 fingers, or how a cow has 4 legs. Atma is whole, without real division.

With Atma, the “quarters” are like four quarters making up one dollar coin – different views of one undivided whole. Or four seasons of one year – distinct expressions of one continuous cycle.

Four quarters are:

1. 1. The waking-state, or the gross world (that scientists are studying). ‘A’ in OM represents this.
   2. The dream-state, or the subtle world (such as thoughts). ‘U’ in OM represents this.
   3. The deep-sleep state, or the causal world (things in potential or unmanifest). ‘M’ in OM represents this.
   4. Unconditioned awareness (turiya). The silence after OM (amātrā) represents this.

Thus “OM” represents the whole reality in one syllable. We'll later do OM chanting to helps us bring all these teachings into meditation.

First three are mithyā – dependent on the other two being absent, and impermanent.

The forth quarter (atma or turiya) receives three relational names corresponding to the other three.

In the first quarter, atma is called Viśva – the observer of waking.

In the second quarter, atma is called Taijasa – the observer of dream.

In the third quarter, atma is called Prājña – the observer of deep sleep.

These names are like “father,” “son,” and “husband” – relational titles for the same man, not three different people.

What is Turiya/Atma, the Forth Quarter?

The fourth quarter, turīya, is the observer of all three observers. Turiya observes the waking-observer, dream-observer, deep-sleep-observer. Turiya or atma does not arrive when waking departs, nor departs when dream arrives. It is the constant in which the other three quarters rise and set. By it’s mere existence, it witnesses all things appearing and disappearing in the three quarters.

Why Know About Four Quarters?

By analyzing each, you can see the whole coin. Before, I could only see one quarter at a time, thus I suffered as my vision of myself and universe was partial. To seek, is to not know of the four quarters.

For instance, neurologists consider waking-quarter superior, and atma-quarter (consciousness) is placed in waking-quarter's brain. What a mixup! Vedanta responds: the 3 quarters (waking, dream, sleep) are mithya, while there's no such thing as atma-quarter, because atma is the only reality. All this will become super-clear in upcoming verses.

NEXT VERSE: First quarter of Atma…

Mandukya Upanishad – Verse 3:
Waking State Consciousness

जागरित-स्थानः बहिः-प्रज्ञः सप्त-अङ्गः एकोन-विंशति-मुखः स्थूल-भुक् वैश्वानरः प्रथमः पादः ॥३॥
jāgarita-sthānaḥ bahiḥ-prajñaḥ sapta-aṅgaḥ ekona-viṃśati-mukhaḥ sthūla-bhuk vaiśvānaraḥ prathamaḥ pādaḥ ||3||

The first quarter is called Vaiśvānara [or virāt], whose sphere of activity is the waking state, who is conscious of external objects, who has seven limbs and nineteen mouths and who is the experiencer of gross objects.

The First Quarter: Waking State (Jāgarita-sthānaḥ)

Ātmā is taught as having four quarters, and the waking state is the first quarter because this state is most real to you: “I am this body, this person, living in this world.”

In waking, the physical body becomes the centre of your identity, and all the afflictions attached to it – hunger, tiredness, success, failure, praise, blame – belong to this waking “I.” Yet this “I” is available only for about fifteen hours a day; when sleep comes, this whole waking identity is gone.

In this waking state, you are bahiṣprajñaḥ, externally conscious: your attention is turned outward to objects, people, sounds, sensations, and situations outside yourself. Therefore you are also a sthūla-bhuk, enjoyer of gross objects.

So the teaching begins here, where you are most convinced: “I am this waking person.” Then it slowly shows that this waking person is only the first quarter, not the whole ātmā.

Waking State Is the Field Where Karma Is Actively Generated

In the waking state alone, the physical body performs deliberate actions that generate puṇya and pāpa.

Waking state has a special status because it is the shared field of transaction. And for this very reason, you have no choice but to get along in order to survive. That’s why waking state is basis for mutually beneficial communication, learning, teaching, ethics, ritual, social duty, and worldly responsibility.

The waking state is not merely a field of experience; it is also the field of karmic production.

Seven Limbs and Nineteen Mouths (Sapta-aṅgaḥ, Ekonaviṃśati-mukhaḥ)

The waking being is described as having seven limbs and nineteen mouths. At the individual level, the seven limbs refer to the physical body and its functional parts — head, eyes, breath, mouth, trunk, bladder, feet, etc. The 7 limbs (body) is the locus through which the waking “I” operates.

The nineteen mouths are not literal mouths. “Mouth” means an instrument of consumption. Through these nineteen mouths, the waker consumes and transacts with the waking world:

• • five sense organs for knowing;
  • five organs of action for responding;
  • fivefold life force, physiological functions
  • four mental modes.

The waking-eyes consume waking-form; waking-ears consume waking-sound; nose consumes smell; tongue consumes taste; skin consumes touch. The mind consumes emotion; intellect consumes ideas and conclusions; memory consumes impressions; ahaṃkāra consumes everything the other 18 mouths are consuming – and then makes seems as if it’s happening to ‘I” over here, the waker.  

For example, the eye sees, but ahaṃkāra says, “I see”; the mind feels — but ahaṃkāra says, “I am hurt.” So ahamkara attaches whatever is happening to one given body-mind, to “I” (atma).

Why are they called mouths?

They are called mouths because they consume emotion, thought, action, food, energy, pleasure, pain, and gross objects. If one instrument is absent or impaired, waking experience becomes limited to that degree.

How Cognition Takes Place: The Role of Vṛtti

How does cognition of an object, like a tree, actually take place? The physical tree does not enter your instrument. Rather, anything that is to be known is converted into a thought (vṛtti-jñānam), and it is that thought which is recognized – not the physical tree itself. When the tree-thought arises in the mind, that tree-thought is objectified by you, the witness (atma).

Knowledge occurs when the vṛtti corresponds to the empirical object without distortion. Error occurs when the vṛtti is colored by fear, memory, projection, or ignorance. The vṛtti is the means by which knowledge of anything takes place.

The Four Types of Vṛtti (Antaḥkaraṇa)

The vṛtti operates in four modes:

1. Buddhi (Cognitive Capacity):

This is the vṛtti that connects the dots, breaks things down, analyses, and arrives at its conclusion regarding truth.

2. Manas (Emoting Capacity):

When a snake is seen, an emotional response is generated. Manas is the faculty responsible for this immediate emotional reaction.

3. Smṛti / Cittam (Memory):

Each thought remains for only a fraction of a second. If memory were absent, there would be no sense of continuity. You could not even hold onto a thought, because holding on itself requires memory. It is memory that gives the sense of a continuous waking “I”, with a biography. EG: What you say about “I” in the waking state, is always in reference to past waking states.

4. Ahaṃkāra (I-sense):

 The “sense of I” is itself another thought (vṛtti), but it is unique compared to the prior three. It makes it seem as though the buddhi, manas, and cittam vṛttis are happening to me, over here and not over there. One moment, “I am feeling honest”; the next, “I feel ignored.”

At times, the ahaṃkāra-vrtti is not connected to buddhi, manas, or citta vrttis. This is what is called in spiritual circles “no-mind” or “thoughtlessness” — often mistaken as the final goal.

Example how what ahamkara is attached to, becomes a complex in early life:

School children expose their intellect to science in hopes of making their vṛtti accord with the facts. Their buddhi is then graded to determine the discrepancy between what-is and the vṛtti that has attempted to capture what-is. An A+ affords the student to say, “I am smart, I have grasped the topic well.” Self-esteem, then, is simply ahaṃkāra connected to a refined buddhi, cittam, or manas vṛtti.

Additionally, note that the fifteen-hour waking ahaṃkāra is completely displaced by the eight-hour dream ahaṃkāra. The “I” with all the unique complexes, you take yourself to be, does not persist across states.

Experiencer of Gross Objects (Sthūla-bhuk)

By association with the waking state and physical body, I take myself to be a viśva (waker), who then believes the purpose of life is to be a sthūla-bhuk, experiencer of waking state gross objects.

My whole purpose of living is based on this process I'm totally oblivious to: senses bringing in data > mind colors it > intellect interprets it > memory compares it > and ahaṃkāra claims it as “my experience.”   

And that's why people invest their whole life in!

To come out of this gratuitous process, first step is to stop seeing yourself as an individual and isolated viśva. You're actually an extension of the total gross being called Vaiśvānara.

The Total Being: Vaiśvānara (Samaṣṭi / Virāṭ)

Vaiśvānara literally means “all beings together” — the cosmic being whose very body IS the entire gross physical universe.

The individual (vyaṣṭi / viśva) is an extension of this entire physical universe (samaṣṭi), which consists of everyone else's body and all objects your body engages with.

Think of a plant growing from the earth. The plant has its own name, form, size, color, and life-cycle, but it is not independent of the earth. Its body is earth appearing as stem, leaf, flower, and fruit. The plant is vyaṣṭi, the individual expression; earth is samaṣṭi, the total from which it arises, by which it is sustained, and into which it resolves.

So too, the individual body is not separate from the total physical order. Look at it like this: No one individual part or limb that makes up your body is superior or inferior to the other. Because all parts make up “body”.

Once the pinkie sees it makes up “body”, it releases its inferiority complex and need to compete with other body parts.

So What If I See Myself As An Extension Of A Larger Being?

If you shift your attention from your small body (vyaṣṭi) to the total body (samaṣṭi) – you no longer feel like an isolated individual who must fight with the world.

Metaphorically, the wave acknowledges it is not separate from the ocean. This is not a positive-thinking shift but an alignment to what-is.

Purpose of the Teaching

This body you call “me” is not a lonely object in a vast universe. 

To awaken this vision, the Upaniṣad presents Vaiśvānara as the cosmic body: heaven as the head, sun and moon as the eyes, atmosphere as prāṇa, fire as mouth, space as body, water as bladder, and earth as feet.

This imaginary reminds you of this total being whenever you look up at the sky for instance, which you are intimately connected with.

The sense of separation must first resolve at the physical level before it can resolve at the subtler levels also.

NEXT VERSE: Second quarter of Atma…

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Recorded 6 Jan, 2026